Brave is introducing a new feature called De-AMP, which enables users to bypass Google-hosted AMP pages in favour of directly visiting the content’s provider. With this new feature, users of the Brave browser will be redirected to the original website instead of using AMP.
According to Google, “AMP is a web component framework that you can use to easily create user-first websites, stories, emails, and ads.” Brave thinks it is detrimental to users’ privacy, security, and internet experience, and it also contributes to Google’s continued monopolization and control of the Web’s direction.
Brave claims it will protect users from AMP in several ways. “Where possible, De-AMP will rewrite links and URLs to prevent users from visiting AMP pages altogether. And in cases where that is not possible, Brave will watch as pages are being fetched and redirect users away from AMP pages before the page is even rendered, preventing AMP/Google code from being loaded and executed.”
AMP was initially touted by Google as a solution to improve the mobile online experience by speeding up page load times. However, it has recently come under fire from critics who believe it is a means for Google to consolidate its control in the internet advertising business by hosting material on its own servers. Recently, a group of publishers declared their decision to abandon AMP, and a lawsuit launched by multiple US states accuses Google of operating a monopoly that hurt competitors and publishers in the advertising sector.
Brave’s browser offers “the finest online privacy,” so naturally, targeting Google is part of its business strategy. Although it has made significant strides, it continues to lag well behind the majority of other browsers in terms of mobile market share, ranking second only to Internet Explorer in the “other” category on the Statcounter website. De-AMP is already available in beta and “will be enabled by default in the next 1.38 Desktop and Android versions, followed by an iOS release shortly thereafter,” Brave noted.
To get a full understanding of AMP, and how Brave intends to use De-AMP to protect users, click here.
